Effect of pelleting on the enzymatic digestibility of corn stover

Xueli Chen; Antonio C Freitas Dos Santos; Diana M Ramirez Gutierrez; Peiyuan Song; John E Aston; David N Thompson; James H Dooley; Michael R Ladisch; Nathan S Mosier

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129338

Effect of pelleting on the enzymatic digestibility of corn stover

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Sep:384:129338. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129338. Epub 2023 Jun 19.

Authors

Xueli Chen¹, Antonio C Freitas Dos Santos¹, Diana M Ramirez Gutierrez¹, Peiyuan Song¹, John E Aston², David N Thompson², James H Dooley³, Michael R Ladisch⁴, Nathan S Mosier⁵

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States; Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States.
² Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, United States.
³ Forest Concepts, LLC, Auburn, WA 98001, United States.
⁴ Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States; Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States; Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States.
⁵ Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering (LORRE), Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States; Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, United States. Electronic address: mosiern@purdue.edu.

PMID: 37343796
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2023.129338

Abstract

Pelleting of lignocellulosic biomass to improve its transportation, storage and handling impacts subsequent processing and conversion. This work reports the role of high moisture pelleting in the enzymatic digestibility of corn stover prior to pretreatment, together with associated substrate characteristics. Pelleting increases the digestibility of unpretreated corn stover, from 8.2 to 15.5% glucan conversion, at 5% solid loading using 1 FPU Cellic® CTec2 per g solids. Compositional analysis indicates that loose and pelleted corn stover have similar non-dissolvable compositions, although their extractives are different. Enzymatic hydrolysis of corn stover after size reduction to normalize particle sizes and removal of extractives confirms that pelleting improves corn stover digestibility. Such differences may be explained by the decreased particle size, improved substrate accessibility, and hydrolysis of cross-linking structures induced by pelleting. These findings are useful for the development of processing schemes for sustainable and efficient use of lignocellulose.

Keywords: Cellulase; Corn stover; High moisture pelletization; Lignocellulose; Protein adsorption.

MeSH terms

Biomass
Cellulase* / chemistry
Hydrolysis
Zea mays* / chemistry

Substances

Cellulase